Insurers can win the race for talent — if they tell their story
Insurers have to do a better job raising awareness of how they combine positive intentions with meaningful action.
Insurance carriers need to do a better job of fully committing to and funding their strategies, as noted in the recent PwC publication outlining top issues facing the industry in 2022. Such a commitment naturally extends to identifying the kinds of skills and attributes insurance organizations want in their employees.
This isn’t easy. Skills identification is a real challenge for all business leaders. It follows then when PwC financial services industry executives to choose from a list of the biggest risks that could prevent their companies from achieving their 2022 growth goals, 55% cited talent acquisition and retention challenges. Moreover, most insurers feel insecure about their appeal to high performers. They think — often correctly — that they lag behind “sexier” industries in attracting and retaining the best workers.
However, recent changes in what workers expect of their employers and the nature of work itself offer insurers a great chance to level the playing field. Insurers have a real opportunity to successfully compete for talent by:
No. 1: Offering an appealing career path that also meets your business needs.
Proactive carriers are becoming more intentional about upskilling. To develop the workforce they’ll need in the future, they’re actively trying to create a culture where employees build relevant knowledge and expertise in order to meet new market and business demands. This is mutually beneficial. High-performing workers — especially younger ones — are strongly focused on building long-term skills and doing new and interesting things. This isn’t just whimsy; it’s a matter of professional survival. PwC recently conducted a global “Hopes and fears” survey of over 30,000 workers, and 39% of employees think their jobs will be obsolete within five years. They know they’ll need to be able to do something different in the future.
Prescient companies also are creating rotations within and across functions, especially at junior levels, to create more diversity of experience. They’re giving individuals exposure to different parts of the business — including leadership — and even arranging temporary gigs outside the company at startups (including insurtechs). All of this makes work more interesting, provides employees more flexibility navigating their careers, and builds organizational skills and knowledge. The end result is a larger pool of internal talent that can be plugged in when and where it’s needed; something that’s especially important when employers themselves are trying to anticipate and define future workforce needs in a time of change and uncertainty.
No. 2: Recognizing flexibility brings more to life and work.
Despite the insurance industry’s reputation for conservatism, almost all of the industry executives with whom we’ve spoken say they’re moving to a hybrid-work model because they recognize that it encourages productivity. This benefits the industry because it not only makes for happier employees but also gives employers better access to talent. If workers don’t have to be in a given location, then companies can access a much wider market for talent, adopt compensation models that reflect the often lower cost of living where employees reside, and avoid building out an expensive physical footprint.
No. 3: Seizing opportunities at the intersection of personal and professional concerns.
Employees increasingly see empathy and equity as strong differentiators when choosing where they work. They want to trust their employers to do the right thing both for them and society.
This is a tremendous opportunity for insurers.
The industry plays an important and positive role in society, helping to balance business and personal risks, making policyholders whole after they incur a loss and, increasingly, preventing negative outcomes before they happen. Take the industry’s efforts to help the world act on climate change. This subject is of real concern to younger people in particular and will continue to play a major role influencing future climate-risk mitigation. The catastrophe risk models the industry has pioneered and continues to refine are a vital part of the climate risk toolkit now used throughout the global financial system. These are prominent examples of how the industry benefits society. But, insurers have to do a better job raising awareness of how they combine positive intentions with meaningful action.
No. 4: Measuring impact, not just time on the job.
Despite the strategic advantages of shifting to work-from-home and hybrid models, related operational changes have forced many insurers to rethink what they mean by productivity. Most organizations have measured it by task-based outcomes. In other words, there’s a list of things to do each day, and if you complete them, you’re productive.
Moving to hybrid and work-from-home models where managers are no longer physically with the people on their teams is changing this long-held assumption. An increasing number of insurers view productivity in terms of general outcomes instead of specific tasks and methods.
Play offense, not defense
Insurers can and do offer innovative and rewarding careers, are increasingly open to new ways of working and management styles, provide meaningful opportunities to work on cutting-edge initiatives, and play a vital role in maintaining a healthy and functioning society. They’re in an excellent position to come out ahead if they clearly prioritize their needs and in turn effectively communicate to job seekers and employees the industry’s many selling points.
The challenge is overcoming an industry culture that focuses on the past more than the future and tends to work behind the scenes rather than draw attention to itself.
Insurers have a compelling story to tell. If they open up and start promoting themselves and the industry, they’ll put themselves in a strong position for growth, led and supported by intelligent and capable people.
Julia Lamm (julia.w.lamm@pwc.com) is a Workforce Strategy Partner at PwC. Marie Carr (marie.carr@pwc.com) is a Strategy Partner at PwC. Opinions expressed here are the authors’ own.
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